
People always go on about sleaze, but I think it's only a small part of what I write about.

I've always been the sort of person who immerses myself in things, and eventually you become part of that life.

I don't care much about success or anything like that. I've only ever wanted life to be an adventure.

I liked the idea of writing a song saying I'm happy with who I am, and I don't mind if people think I'm some old git.

A lot of youth today have become very narrow and conservative in a way, whereas we in the older generation are kind of living it.

These days i tend to use one project I do as a kind of offshoot to the next.

I can't read music and I'm crap at learning lyrics. Especially since the accident I have memory problems. I can't remember words, names, places.

So often, the singer is the sound of the record. People think they can cover anything, but the whole voice is the thing that's unrepeatable.

If you were born by the sea, there's always a magnet that draws you back there.

I'm always more interested in trying things that will push me, and I don't care if I fall flat on my face doing it.

I became the magnet for a lot of scary aggression. Cos it's scary Up North!

It's a shame in a way that people come and go with one album.

That's what I like to do, I like to make songs.

You can't keep pursuing pop success, and chasing the past.

I don't really have anything against Will Young or Gareth Gates.

I love this idea of shape-shifting and changing when you put on clothes, and turn into somebody else.

I like situations that force me to rethink things.

I think in the past I think I probably was a little too diverse, probably went from one spectrum to the complete opposite and confusing people.

There's no such thing as 'I can't do it'.

Maybe I was a bit harsh on some people. But I was harshest on myself, really.

As soon as one project is finished I like to go straight on to something else.

I made a creativity out of that messiness.

I was a magnet for people who want to take advantage of people like me, who think they're part of this life but they're not.

Don't sing a song you can't carry off, like some 16-year-old kid singing 'My Way'. That song's not for you. You haven't lived that.

My next record I really just want it to be a collection of great songs, classic songs in a way.

I thought, I'm in my late 50s now, am I ever gonna get the chance to do another album again?